Reports: Phillies sign Cuban pitcher Gonzalez

DETROIT — Who is Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, and why could he be receiving as much as $60 million from the Phillies, of a Yahoo! Sports report late Friday night is true?

Well, anyone who has watched Yasiel Puig tear the cover off the ball for the Dodgers of late, or seen Aroldis Chapman hit triple-digits with regularity, or remembered Livan Hernandez grind his way to 178 career wins as a workhorse could tell you, there is a great deal of big-league-ready talent that defects from Cuba. And the Phillies apparently are believers in Gonzalez, a 26-year-old right-hander whose repertoire allegedly includes a mid-90s fastball and three other plus pitches. Gonzalez fled the Communist country early this year after being banned from play for a time in his home country for a failed attempt to escape.

If the Yahoo! report is true — it says the deal is for six years and comes in somewhere between $50 and 60 million — it would be the largest signing ever to a Cuban defector. Puig received a seven-year, $42 million deal from Los Angeles. After spending less than a full year in the minors, the 22-year-old outfielder has stormed into the majors, hitting .379 with nine homers, 22 RBIs and 33 runs scored in 45 games while displaying an electric defensive ability.

Considering Gonzalez’s age, experience in international play and price tag, the expectation would be that he make an impact almost immediately in 2014.